Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 2% – Here’s Why

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price traded down 2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $166.93 and last traded at $170.3650. Approximately 11,461,521 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 13,819,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.79.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Navatar launched a Claude-native deal engine built on Salesforce CRM, Agentforce, and Claude, highlighting continued third-party adoption of Salesforce’s AI and enterprise platform. Navatar Launches Claude-Native Deal Engine for Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firms on Salesforce CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce was named “Equal Weight” by Morgan Stanley, suggesting the analyst sees a balanced risk/reward setup rather than a strong near-term upside or downside case. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce remains a closely watched value and AI pivot name, with some coverage pointing to attractive valuation and AI growth potential, but also emphasizing that the stock needs a clearer growth inflection. Salesforce vs. Adobe: Which Enterprise Software Stock Has the Edge?
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut Salesforce’s price target by 35% to $185 and downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing limited visibility into a meaningful growth reacceleration. Morgan Stanley Slashes Salesforce Price Target By 35%
• Negative Sentiment: Additional coverage highlighted another downgrade and broader concerns that AI-related competition could hurt future software growth, adding to pressure on CRM shares. CRM Stock Snags Second Rating Downgrade This Month
• Negative Sentiment: News that Jack Dorsey is building a new Slack-like product has renewed investor concern about competition in workplace messaging, an area tied to Salesforce’s Slack business. Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey is Making a New Slack — Should Salesforce Investors Be Worried?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. DA Davidson cut their price target on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.7%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $170.50 and a 200-day moving average of $188.64. The company has a market capitalization of $131.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Financial Group LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD now owns 2,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.